Reel carrying rack



March 29, 1955 E. L. WORSHAM REEL CARRYING RACK 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FiledApril 7, 1952 I INVENTOR. [AMER L. We 5 M BY I l ATTORNEY March 29, 1955E. L. WORSHAM 2,705,114

REEL CARRYING RACK I Filed April 7, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VEN TOR.

54/1451? L. Woes/m ATTORNEY United States Patent REEL CARRYING RACKElmer L. Worsham, Kalamazoo, Mich. Application April 7, 1952, Serial No.280,907

4 Claims. (Cl. 242-90) This invention refers to a device for carrying aplurality of reels and particularly to a type thereof from which anygiven reel may be removed and replaced without disturbing any of theother reels.

In the business of an electrician, particularly as applied to theservice and maintenance work in large industrial or institutionalestablishments, there is frequently the need for supplying wire in largeamounts of varying sizes. Such wire is normally furnished on reels andsuch reels will usually weigh in excess of sixty pounds. Where aconsiderable length of wire is to be unreeled, this becomes anexceedingly difficult task for a single workman and where several sizesof wire are to be used the work of handling several reels often becomesextremely burdensome even for several workmen.

-In providing a reel supporting rack for holding a plurality of wirecarrying reels, and having in mind that one reel may become emptied andrequire replacement before other reels become emptied, it becomesdesirable -to provide means for permitting the removal and replacernentof any one of such reels without disturbing the other reels. Further,such reel supporting means must, while a reel is in place therein,permit easy turning thereof.

Accordingly, a major object of the invention is to provide a reelcarrying rack which will hold a plurality of reels independently of eachother, and firmly, and which will permit easy rotation of any one ofsaid reels. A further object of the invention is to provide a reelcarrying rack from which any one of said reels may be removed and a newreel inserted in its place without disturbing any of the other reels onsaid rack.

A further object of the invention is to provide a reel carrying rackwhich is readily portable in one position and which, in anotherposition, will provide a firm base for holding said reels while longlengths of wire, or such other article as may be wound thereon, may beunreeled.

A further object of the invention is to provide a device, as aforesaid,which will be of suflicient structural simplicity as to be capable offabrication at a low cost and to be capable of easy maintenance.

A- further object of the invention is to provide a device, as aforesaid,which will be sturdy, rugged and capable of long life.

A further object of the invention is to provide a device, as aforesaid,from which any one reel may be removed, and a replacement inserted,quickly and easily 'ice semblies and sufiicient cross members to holdsaid side frame assemblies in fixed position with respect to each other.Preferably, a pair of wheels are positioned at one end of said sideframe assemblies and handle members are provided at the other endthereof. A plurality of split bearings are supported between said sideframe assemblies by means mounted directly on said side frameassemblies, or on said cross members, in order that each of saidbearings will be unrelated and the ability of any said hearings tosupport a shaft will be unrelated to the condition of any otherbearings. provided for opening said bearings or holding same in saidclosed position at will. Said bearings are positioned sufficiently onone side of said side frame assemblies that reels supported therein willnot extend beyond the other side of said frame assemblies, in order thatsaid device may be laid on its side for the frictional holding thereofin a predetermined position on a supporting surface, as the floor, whilewire, or other article on the reel, is withdrawn therefrom.

Detailed description -In the following description, solely for thepurpose of convenience in reference and in no sense as limitations, thefollowing terminology will be used: the terms forwardly and rearwardly,thereof, will refer to the direction appearing as leftwardly andrightwardly respectively in Figure 2; the terms upwardly" and downwardlywill refer to the device in the position of use shown in Figure 2 withthe broken line "A taken as the supporting surface.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, the side frame assemblyappearing in Figure 2 comprises a forward frame member 1, a back framemember 2 and a plurality of connecting frame members 3, 4 and 6. Anotherside frame assembly including a forward frame member 7 corresponding tothe forward frame member 1 appears on the other side of the device andis identical to the side frame assembly just detailed.

Each of the side frame assemblies are connected by rear connectingmembers 8, 9 and 11 which are welded and without the employment of otherthan standard tools.

Other objects and purposes of the invention will become apparent topersons acquainted with devices of this general type upon a reading ofthe following specification and inspection of the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 represents a front view of a preferred embodiment of myinvention.

Figure 2 represents a side view of the embodiment shown in Figure 1.

Figure 3 represents a section taken on the line III-III of Figure 1.

Figure 4 represents a section taken on the line IV-IV of Figure 2 androtated 90 counterclockwise.

Figure 5 represents a rear view of the device shown in Figure 1.

General description In meeting the objects and purposes above set forth,I have provided a device having a pair of side frame asto the backmembers 2 and 5 for forming a rigid structure. The forward members 1 and7 curve rearwardly, as shown at 12 and are fastened, as by welding tothe upper ends of the back members 2 and 5, as at 13 and 15. Thelowerends of the forward members 1 and 7 are provided with fioor engagingpads 14 and 16 and are connected by a lower forward frame member 17 asshown in Figure 1. If desired, the side frame assemblies may also beprovided with lower side members, as at 18.

Wheels 19 and 21 are mounted on any convenient axle and bearingstructures 20 and atfixed near the lower end of the back members 2 and 5in any convenient manner, as shown in Figure 5.

Intermediate the 'side' members 6 and 10 (Figure 4), are forwardlyprojecting bearing support members 22 and 23. Similar bearing supportmembers are positioned intermediate the side members 3 and 4 and theirrespect ive counterparts on the other side of the device. At the forwardend of each of said bearing support members 22 and 23, as well as at theforward end of each of the side frame members 6 and 10, are aligned,split, bearing assemblies 24, 25, 26 and 27. As shown in Figure 2, thesplit in said bearings is sloped upwardly and rearwardly with respect tothe members 3, 4 and 6. The upper half of each of said split bearingassemblies, as that appearing at 31 in Figure 2, is mounted on a handle33 which in turn is pivotally mounted by a bracket 34 on the side framemember 6. A spring 35 tends to hold the top half 31 of the split bearingsnugly against the lower half 36 thereof. Similar split bearingassemblies are provided at the free ends of each of the other bearingsupport members and similar assemblies are provided for holding the tophalves of each of said other split hearing' assemblies against therespective bottom halves thereof.

A plurality of reel assemblies is supported by and betweenpairs of thesesplit bearings. Inasmuch as each of said reel assemblies is identical toeach of the others and the manner of support of each thereof is the sameas the manner of support of all others, a description of Suitable meansareand derivatives and synonyms a single one thereof will suflice toillustrate all of them.

The reel 39 (Figures 1 and 2) is comprised in a conventional manner ofthe reel halves 41 and 42 which respectively comprise hub halves 43 and44 and the flanges mounted on each thereof. Each of said hubs is mountedon a shaft 46 which is received in the bearing 47 and in the lower halfof the bearing 48. The adjacent reel 49 is similarly mounted upon aseparate shaft 51, one end of which is also supported in the bearingassembly 48. Thus, by opening the bearing assemblies 47 and 48, the reel39 including its supporting shaft, may be lifted bodily out therefromand a replacement inserted in its place. This also applies to the reelsbetween bearings 24, 25, 26 and 27. In view of the foregoing it will beevident that such replacement can be made without disturbing or movingany of the other reels.

Operation Referring now specifically to the operating of the device, ithas already been indicated the manner in which the reels may be removedfrom the position in the bearing assemblies and other similar reels putin their respective places. In the position shown in Figure 2 with thefloor assumed as in the position indicated by the broken line A," wirecan be withdrawn from any of the reels on the truck without disturbingany of the other reels. If it isdesired to move the truck, an operatormay grasp it by the handle 12, and the counterpart thereof on the otherside of the device, and the same may be readily moved on its wheels 19and 21. If an extremely long piece of wire is to be taken off one of thereels so that the drag on the device is of major amount, undesiredupsetting can be prevented by placing the device in the positionindicated by the broken line B being taken as the floor, or othersupporting surface. It will be observed that the reels are in bothpositions located between the points of support of the truck on thefloor and in the position indicated by the line B being taken as thefloor, the reels are positioned sufiiciently close to the floor that thelikelihood of upsetting of the truck is reduced to an inconsequentialminimum.

- In the event that for any reason it is desired to omit a particularreel from the device, the same may readily be done merely by removing itfrom its shaft, as the shaft 46, and replacing said shaft without thereel 39 in its bearings. Alternatively, a suitable internal snap ringmay be provided as indicated at 52 for holding the respective shafts inplace regardless of Whether the adjacent shaft is or is not present.

Thus, it will be seen that I provided a device of extreme stabilitywhile in use combined with extreme flexibility in manner of use and haveaccordingly attained the objects and purposes above set forth.

While the foregoing description has referred to one specific embodimentfor illustration of the invention, it will be understood that suchchoice of embodiment is for illustrative purposes only and the inventionis not limited thereto. Instead, it is capable of a number of variationswhich will be apparent to persons acquainted with apparatus of thisgeneral type and such variations will be within the scope of thehereinafter appended claims excepting as such claims may by their ownterms expressly limit otherwise.

c 1. In a reel supporting device, the combination comprising: framestructure including a pair of side frame assemblies in spaced andparallelrelationship'and "a plu-- rality of cross members holding saidside frame assemblies in said position with respect to each other;wheeled means at one corner of each of said side frame assemblies andhandles at the other corner of each of said side frame assemblies; aplurality of bearing support members located intermediate said sideframe assemblies and mounted on one of. said cross members andpositioned parallel with each other and with said side frame assemblies;a plurality of co-axial, axially split, bearings comprising upper andlower halves, the lower halves of said bearings being supportedrespectively on said bearing support members; a plurality of shafts,said shafts'being of such length as to extend between-each pair ofadjacent bearings, and the end of each shaft extending into itscorresponding bearing less than half the axial width thereof; manuallyoperable means normally holding the upper halves of said bearings inclosed position; whereby each of said reels may be removed from saiddevice upon operation of said last named means Without disturbing thesupporting means for any of said other reels.

2. In reel supporting structure mountable upon the frame of atwo-wheeled truck having a rectangular back structure braced by parallelcross-members, the combination comprising: a plurality of parallelbearing support members secured to one of said cross-members andextending equidistantly and forwardly therefrom; a lower bearing halfsupported upon the extended end of each said member, each pair ofadjacent halves being spaced for reception of a reel therebetween; ashaft removably and rotatably supported within and between each saidadjacent pair of halves and a reel being removably supportable upon eachsaid shaft; an upstanding bracket on each said support member and ahandle pivotally mounted intermediate its ends upon each said bracket,said handle being disposed above and substantially parallel with itsrespective support member; an upper bearing half mounted upon theforward end of each said handle for cooperation with the lowerbearinghalf on said respective support member; resilient means urging eachupper half against its corresponding lower half, for holding theadjacent ends of a pair of adjacent shafts therebetween, each end ofeach shaft extending into its respective bearing less than half theaxial Width thereof.

3. The structure of claim 2 wherein the split between said bearinghalves defines a plane sloped upwardly and rearwardly with respect to aplane defined by said support members.

4. The structure of claim 2 wherein the said shafts are coaxial.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,028,506 Thieme June 4, 1912 1,452,003 Richardson Apr. 17, 19232,544,348 Nystrom Mar. 6, 1951 2,590,963 Hannay Apr. 1, 1952 FOREIGNPATENTS 51,166 France July 1, 1941 (1st addition)

